dowel
Plural: dowels
Noun
- a fastener that is inserted into holes in two adjacent pieces and holds them together
- A pin, or block, of wood or metal, fitting into holes in the abutting portions of two pieces, and being partly in one piece and partly in the other, to keep them in their proper relative position.
- A wooden rod, as one to make short pins from.
- A piece of wood or similar material fitted into a surface not suitable for fastening so that other pieces may be fastened to it.
Verb
Verb Forms: doweled, doweling, dowels, dowelled, dowelling
- To fasten or join with a dowel, a wooden pin.
- To fasten together with dowels.
- To furnish with dowels.
Examples
- A cooper dowels pieces for the head of a cask.
- I tried to DOWEL the letters together, but they just wouldn’t form a valid word.
Origin / Etymology
From Middle English dowle, dule, of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Old French doelle (“the hollow part of a tool where the handle is”), from Frankish *duli (“hollow tube, pipe”), from Proto-Germanic *dulją (“pipe”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰel- (“curvature, hollow”). If so, then cognate with French douelle, douille.
Alternatively from Middle Low German dövel (“peg, plug”), from Old Saxon *dubil, from Proto-Germanic *dubilaz. If so, then cognate with Dutch deuvel (“wooden peg”), German Dübel (“dowel”).
Synonyms
dowel pin, joggle
Scrabble Score: 9
dowel: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Worddowel: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
dowel: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary